Ink metering devices are commonly used to regulate the application of ink to an ink fountain roller in a printing press. One specific type of ink metering device has a series of slides which have edge portions adjacent the ink fountain roller. The amount of ink conveyed by the fountain roller past the slides is regulated by the gap between the edge portions of the slides and the fountain roller. The slides are mounted for radial displacement with respect to the fountain roller to control the amount of ink transferred by the ink fountain roller to the printing press. In order to obtain a variable amount of regulation across the length of the fountain roller to compensate for ink density variations across the printed sheets, each slide is individually adjustable relative to the ink fountain roller. The adjustment of each slide is performed by a respective adjusting motor. An ink metering assembly of this kind is described for example in Cappel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,788, issued Sept. 7, 1976.
A problem often encountered in using ink metering devices of the kind described above is that the ink profile across the length of the fountain roller does not remain constant during a long period of press operation, and requires readjustment of the slides at regular intervals. The ink profile may change because of excessive bearing play, wear on the slides or the ink fountain roller, or temperature changes. The readjustment process is time consuming and therefore results in less efficient use of the press. Further, since the ink profile settings are determined empirically to obtain a desired ink density across the printed sheet and these variable factors are not considered, automatic presetting and readjustment of the inking unit is hardly possible.